Princess Kaguya’s Bamboo Sword
Origin The Japanese story also known as the Tale of Princess Kaguya, after its protagonist is a 10th-century fictional prose narrative. It primarily details the life of a mysterious girl called Kaguya-hime, who was discovered as a baby inside the stalk of a glowing bamboo plant. Even though it is the oldest and most well known tale, with the oldest manuscript dating back to 1592, the original author is unknown. The story goes as following: one day, while walking through a bamboo forest, a childless bamboo cutter called Taketori no Okina comes across a shining stalk of bamboo. After cutting it open, he found that there was an infant the size of his thumb inside. Amazed and overjoyed to find such a beautiful baby girl he took her home. Taketori and his wife raised her as their own and named her Kaguya-hime which translates to princess of flexible bamboos scattering light. Afterwards anytime Taketori cut down bamboo he found a small nugget of gold and soon they became rich. Kaguya-hime grew through the years from the tiny baby into a woman of ordinary size and extraordinary beauty. At first, the family tried to keep her away from outsiders, however over time the news of her beauty spread. As the story goes, five princes came to Taketori to ask for Kaguya-hime's hand in marriage. Now Kaguya-hime wasn't interested in marriage but the princes persuaded Taketori to let them know how to win her love. Kaguya-hime requested each an impossible task. The first was told to fetch her the stone begging bowl of the Buddha from India, the second a jeweled branch from the mythical island of Horai, the third the legendary robe of the fire-rat of China, the fourth a colored jewel from a dragon's neck and the final prince a cowry shell born of swallows. The first three princes, understanding the impossible task, attempted to trick her with fake items. The fourth gave up after encountering a storm while the fifth prince perished trying to locate his. Eventually these events came to the ears of Mikado, the Emperor of Japan, who also fell in love with her. Even though they became friends Kaguya-hime also refused Mikado's proposal as well, stating that she was not of his country thus couldn't return to the palace with him. During the summer, whenever Kaguya-hime saw the full moon she would start crying, but was unable to explain herself in words until she revealed she was not from earth but of the moon. Learning of this Mikado sent many guards to her house to protect her from the moon people coming to take her home. However when the moon people arrived the guards were blinded by a strange light. Saddened at leaving her new friends Kaguya-hime gave her mother her own robes, her father a new bamboo cutting sword with the ability to always remain sharp and still locate a nugget of gold in the bamboo. Tasting the elixir of life she gave it to the head guard to take to the Emperor. In the end the Emperor took the elixir and had it destroyed because he didn't wish to live forever without her. Also he wrote a final letter and told his guard to take it to the top of the highest mountain in hope that she would be able to fetch it. This was Mount Fuji where the elixir was burned and was said to continue burning all this time. Effects Whenever user cuts down a bamboo stalk there’s a nugget of gold inside. If the gold is spent selfishly user becomes obsessively greedy. Category:Artifact Category:Class A-4 Category:GunjiBunny